Not to ruin a funny tweet, but we will remind people that Nancy Grossman’s masks are not about S&M.

Not sure how I (Paddy) feel about this piece on class and privilege in the trans, queer, people of color community. Shak’ar Mujukian tells a story about living in a co-op mostly populated by TQPOC who were what I’d call conceptually poor—they live like paupers, but have grown up with a certain amount of privilege. In this case, the privilege was never discussed—to the point where it seemed like it might have been hidden. As an actual poor person, Mujukian found that offensive and something that fed into his insecurity or what he deems “internalized oppression”. Anyway, the upshot is that he felt alienated in a place that was supposedly built for people like him, and that’s why the wealthy privilege of being able to chose to live like a poor person is bad. [The Hyephen]

Trump’s former campaign manager Paul J. Manafort is involved in yet another scandal. Manafort, who used to be employed by a Russian oligarch “to nudge US news and politics in a pro-Putin direction”, may have been involved in a money laundering scheme involving New York real estate. Manafort would drop millions on properties (including one in Trump Tower) and then take out massive loans against the properties through the Federal Savings Bank, whose President Steve Calk was a Trump fundraiser and present economic advisor. [WNYC via Curbed]

Rupaul’s Drag Race is now on VH1, and the network is already stirring the pot. Many are outraged that Wendy Williams is scheduled to host a live pre-show, despite the fact that producers for her own show kicked drag queen Erickatoure out of the audience for wearing a dress instead of “dressing to impress” as a man. [Hey Qween]

“Working from sternly jokeless material, Sanders and his crew save the wit for such formal flourishes. Roelfs’ production design, matching sprawling dystopian squalor to fluorescent, holographic flights of fancy, abounds in playful details within details; Kurt and Bart’s wardrobe of synthetic-chic kimonos and tectonic-plate bodysuits ensure not even a morgue body sheet goes without some subtle fabulousness.” The Variety review of the live-action Ghost in the Shell is so breathlessly glowing I (Michael) am nudging my skeptical optimism ever more to point of giddy excitement. [Variety]

Preview Michael Williams’ Artforum cover, featuring a “COEXIST” symbol obscured by moody purple haze on an upside-down portrait. It feels like one of the most subtle paintings of the current sociopolitical moment. [Facebook]

A mock trial at the Art Institute of Chicago tackled the issue of what the British should do with the Parthenon Marbles they stole/bought from Greece. This is the kind of debate we can get behind. Nobody is calling for the destruction of art works. [The Chicago Reader]

There are many icks and ews to this story, we’re finding it difficult to even link to it. A Swiss asshole drug addicted art dealer by the name of Bennet von Vertes murdered his best friend with a sculpture in a drug induced haze, believing him to be a green alien. He is also reportedly charged with rape, a case that will receive a separate trial. [artnet News]

Lynn Hershman Leeson’s life story is so interesting. Essentially, she’s been making 2017 work since the 1960s. So much of it has been in storage until recently. Now, at age 75, her explorations into digital identity and experiments with genre-blurring media are getting serious overdue attention. [ARTnews]

Bronx Commons, an affordable housing complex coming to the Bronx along with a performance space, was supposed to include set-aside apartments for aging musicians being priced out of the borough. Now, the developers are being told that policy might violate fair housing laws. This is a bad precedent for affordable artist housing. [Curbed]

Artist James Bridle has designed a salt circle (like in witchcraft) to trap self-driving cars. This is so good. [The Creators Project]

White Mule Framing Inc. is auctioning off pretty much everything they own. This includes vouchers for future framing work. The business has decided to move out of Manhattan due to rising rents and is auctioning off their inventory to raise money for a down payment on a forever home. That’s a pretty smart move. [32 Auctions]

Looks like we’re going to have to check out Lynn Hershman Leeson’s work at Bridget Donahue. Photos from this show pique curiosity. [Contemporary Art Daily]

A.E. Benenson considers Sean Raspet’s faux-food innovations as the conceptual grandchild of the Bauhaus’s optimism—a foil to a not-so-distant, cynical Silicon Valley dystopia. Paddy and I weren’t so happy with the non-food’s texture and chemical-y taste. We tried it at Frieze last year. To quote myself, the gel in a tube had “notes of past-due seafood kimchee with a squirt of toothpaste.” [Art in America]

Pace announces it will open a second gallery in Hong Kong during the Art Basel Hong Kong art fair. [artnet News]

Even as feminism experiences a resurgence, there’s still a marked lack of representation of women of color and gender nonconforming individuals in both art and political activism. This disparity was recently debated on an international level with the criticism launched at the disproportionately white and cisgender Women’s March. A current show HACKING/MODDING/REMIXING As Feminist Protest at Pittsburgh’s Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon provides a direct rebuke of this continued inequality by emphasizing the power of intersectional feminism (feminism that embraces multiple, overlapping social identities beyond gender, including race, ethnicity, sexuality and class).

The exhibition leads by example by bringing together a group of twenty two artists who fracture and rearrange technology to create their own narratives within male-dominated fields like gaming, net developing and computing. Organized by artist and game developer Angela Washko, the show, in many ways, is an answer to the much-reported lack of women in tech industries (Washko cites a 2013 study in her introductory wall text, stating only 26% of the positions in computing jobs in the U.S. are held by women). But, with its smart and diverse curation, HACKING/MODDING/REMIXING As Feminist Protest goes further than exhibitions about feminism often go, taking on race and other identity issues. This makes the show not only politically relevant, but also necessary viewing during our current feminist revival.

Today and tomorrow New Yorkers will be saddled by this terrible Northeaster storm, but that shouldn’t stop you from attending Hannah Cole’s talk on artist taxes today or Judith Bernstein’s talk and book launch dubbed dicks of death tomorrow. They’re too important to miss. By Wednesday art lovers will be able to head to the Lodge for an opening of John Wellington’s dystopian history paintings, and on Thursday to the New York City Ballet to see electronic artist Dan Deacon’s “America” set to ballet. We’re particularly looking forward to seeing the ballet given Deacon’s connection to the blog. He’s a Baltimore resident and a long time muse for the blog.

By the time the weekend sets in, it’ll be all talks moderated by Art F City’s Paddy Johnson. On Saturday she’ll be discussing how the Nevada Test Site has influenced the paintings of Eric LoPresti with Eric LoPresti. Sunday, she’ll be discussing the evolving roll of storytelling in American culture with Jack Early and friends.

All of which is to say there’s plenty to see and do this week. So let’s not delay. Put these dates in your calendar and plan to compare notes later on!

Brace yourself: Pretty much every museum in the city has a major show launching, from The Met’s Kerry James Marshall show, to the Whitney’s Immersive Cinema survey, to the Rhizome and New Museum’s Net Art Anthology launch. We’re excited about EVERY. SINGLE. SHOW. Why? Because they are all historical shows in some way, attempting to chart a history of important art works and movements. This is important work.

Oddly enough, Historicizing seems to be a broader theme for the week in general—well, in at least one show. Saturday Elizabeth Dee will launch a mammoth show that attempts to look at the East Village scene of the 80’s and where those artists are now. This is a must-see exhibition, so between this, the museum shows, and everything else we have listed you’re going to be busy.

2015 was great for art. For all the bitching that went on about art fairs, the dominance of the market, and sub-par museum shows (cough, cough Björk), I saw more great shows than I have in my ten years working as a critic in New York. Rather than try to whittle our picks down to a few select shows, we wrote up every show we thought was truly exemplary.